


i like you so much (i'd rather hide it away)

by nihalforqueen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (bc fuck canon), Alternate Universe - Future, EXTREMELY self-indulgent, Keith's dumb heart plays a part, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, PINING KEITH, Shiro is not a Clone, a lot of science talk i've no idea if it's accurate but i tried?, my girl Allura will live forever bc again: fuck canon, pining lance, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihalforqueen/pseuds/nihalforqueen
Summary: Someone gives Lance and Keith a love potion.It doesn't go as they expected it.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 136





	i like you so much (i'd rather hide it away)

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot edit another word from this please take it off my hands I beg you
> 
> Also, everybody has their original lion bc I like it that way, sorry

Allura was having such a good day.

She's just received great news from her Paladins, from their last diplomatic mission, and they have now another ally assured to the Coalition, another planet willing to fight for the freedom of the Universe. The terms of the accord were agreeable to everyone.

So yeah, she was having a good day.

Sending Lance and Keith alone in diplomatic missions is no longer a guarantee for disaster, she's found out lately. Whatever vestige of hesitation she feels, as briefly as they are these days, comes from a time when they did not complement each other’s best assets as well as they do now.

In fact, she sometimes still marvels at how good they are when they team up, which in the last couple years has been more and more frequent to the point one is not in the field if the other isn't right there too. Keith is firm when they need to be demanding and Lance is always able to soft it with his conciliatory ways.

 _Good cop, bad cop,_ Lance once said with a smirk, and Keith rolled his eyes but also gave him the kind of smile he only seemed to reserve for Lance, discreet but oh so endeared. Hunk giggled, Pigde gagged, and although Allura didn’t quite grasp what the blue paladin meant, this was a quite normal reaction from all of them.

Allura's not having such a great day anymore.

In fact, it took an unexpected turn towards a disaster. It goes like this:

She is caught by surprise as the screen on the navigation room blinks red around the corners. It's a video call from the Nauhj, their newest ally, and an urgent one for that matter.

She hesitates for a second, apprehensive, because Lance and Keith said the meeting was successful and that she didn't have to worry about a thing. Well, it looks like she did.

She taps the receiving symbol on her screen and the Nauhj veencourt, Saenique ( _“Oh, kinda like a chancellor!”,_ Pidge said when Allura explained how the political system of the planet Xor worked. Like Allura would know what a chancellor is), pops into the screen.

“Princess Allura!”, they exclaim as soon as the connection is made, and Allura is not very familiar with the Nauhj physiognomy, with the blue-ish skin and the three pale eyes, but she can easily see the distress in their expression.

They are under attack, Allura thinks. The Accord is broken. Keith and Lance somehow misinterpreted everything that happened on Xor and it actually was a complete disaster.

“I have no words to express how sorry we are. I have the best alchemists working on antidote right this moment," the veercourt is saying, talking fast, odd accent making it more difficult to discern the words. Allura sharpens her hearing. "We want to be absolutely sure that is safe for human consumption. Your Paladins were already put in too much danger. But I beg you to understand, Princess, my sister is just a child. She's very empathetic and she genuinely believed she was helping them.”

Allura has no idea what is the true meaning of the veercourt's words, and it must be transparent on her face, as they stop talking and hesitate for a moment before asking, “Have you not encountered the Blue and Red Paladins yet?”

“I have," Allura responds carefully. "We had a debrief about your meetings and they said it occurred all too well.”

“Oh. Are they not… acting any differently?” Their expression, this time, shows surprise.

“What do you mean?” Allura asks, more firmly. She won't jump to conclusions here, as much as her brain is already filling the blanks of this conversation. She won't assume the worst, but she needs a clear answer right away.

Veercourt Saenique lifts their eyes from the screen and talks to someone to their left Allura cannot see. “Are you sure it's absolutely effective on Galra and Alteans? Human physiology is very close to altean indeed. So, it _should_ be affecting them? Yes, you're right, especially after such a strong dosage.”

“Veercourt Saenique?" Allura interrupts them and the nauhj’s eyes come back to stare at her. Enough is enough and she needs to know now. She takes a deep breath before asking, with her coldest and most regal tone, "Are you, perhaps, trying to tell me that my Paladins were _poisoned_ on your planet, under your protection?”

And well, if the situation wasn't already absurd enough, Allura sees them, clear even through the strange features, become _embarrassed._

“You see, Princess Allura," and maybe, she thinks, if not for the distress, she would be amused to see that the highest ranked politician of any planet could look that bashful. "Not exactly _poisoned.”_

Allura can barely believe their next words. 

* * *

"You _know_ I'm right on this, Keith!"

Shiro hears Lance's voice from down the corridor and it's only a moment before he sees him and Keith turning around a corner, coming from the training room.

"I have no idea what you're talking about.” Keith tells him.

"You may have wicked moves while fighting but by dios, your dancing moves are weak." Lance teases walking backwards so he can be face to face with Keith.

"Fuck off!" Keith says, but he sounds like he’s fighting a laugh.

"I'm just saying. If you want to be my partner again on the next ball we attend, you gotta step up your game, dude."

"Dance alone, then."

 _"Ke-eith!_ We had fun last night, didn’t we? Don't you want to dance with me again?" Lance's voice goes kind of soft and flirty and Shiro looks up, pleading with the heavens for the reason why he hasn't stayed in his room for 5 more minutes. He doesn't need to witness The Boyfriends this early in the day.

"Ugh. Fine." Keith says, feigning being put off when everyone knows he does everything Lance asks him to, even if he would deny it with the fire of a thousand suns. "We can practice next training session. Ten minutes!"

"You will not regret it, Keith.” Lance says, turning to walk normally again, going side by side with Keith, a huge smile on his face. “We're already super compatible in our fighting style, we're gonna be amazing together."

Keith's eyes finally find Shiro coming in their direction and the tip of his ears go scarlet red, but his face looks stupidly happy.

"Boys." He nods when they cross paths.

"Hiya Shiro!" Lance exclaims with an energic wave of his arm and _subtly_ uses the opportunity to put that arm around Keith's shoulders. _Smooth, kid._ "Did you know your little brother is a _terrible_ dancer? I'm sure I can turn him around with a few lessons, though."

"I'm not that bad!" Keith protests.

"No, you're awful, Keith. Kind of cute, though. Shows promise."

Oh, poor Keith. Shiro arches an eyebrow at him when Keith risks a look at him again and he can see Keith is fighting a smile, blush spreading to his cheeks.

The amount of obliviousness going around there is too much for him these days, or to anyone in the Castle for that matter, and it just keeps getting worse. At this rhythm, they will end up married before they realized they’re both into each other.

"I bet," Shiro says and keeps going his way as they do theirs, already too distracted with each other to notice he's not close by anymore.

He's still shaking his head at Keith and Lance and their endless figurative dancing around each other, thinking maybe some literal dancing could make them see what's right on their faces, when Allura runs into him as he walks by the navigation room. 

He catches himself on the wall to prevent from spiraling into the floor, balance lost on the impact with Allura's strength.

“Wow, princess. Where's the fire?”

“Did you see Lance and Keith?” She asks him back as if she hadn't even heard him, her eyes huge on her face.

Shiro blinks, confused.

A while ago, if he asked someone about a fire, even if joking, and their answer was to inquire about Keith and Lance, looking as pale and worried as Allura is right now, he'd be very, very alarmed, as the chances of having an _actual fire_ to put out would be very high. Now, after so much time of seeing them growing into this dynamic and well-oiled duo, it's hard to believe they got themselves into trouble. At least not into the _kind_ of trouble that would worry Allura this much.

“Uh, in their rooms, I guess. I passed them in the corridor a few minutes ago, they were coming back from training."

“Did you notice something different between them?” Allura asks urgently.

Shiro furrows his brow a little, thinking about how they just were bickering friendly in their way to the dorms, laughing and smiling silly at one another. That is, the way they always are.

“Hm, no. They're acting their normal selves.”

Allura breathes out an actual sigh of relief. The alarm that goes off into Shiro's head is immediate.

“Allura. What happened?”

She hesitates only for a moment more.

“Come with me," she says, and indicates with a nod to the room behind her, before turning back around and entering it.

Shiro, feeling the knot of uneasiness in his chest, follows her. 

* * *

Pidge _did not_ see that coming when Allura and Shiro called her to the debriefing room _._ And she _cannot stop laughing._

Allura, as it shows by her sour expression, disapproves of her amusement with the situation.

Shiro, on the other hand, is doing his best to fight back a smile.

“This is not funny. I am truly concerned about them.”

“Allura. Oh, my god." Pidge snickers. "You're telling me there's an alien race who invented _a highly effective love potion_ and one of them thought it was a good idea to give it to _Lance and Keith._ How the fuck is that _not fucking hilarious?!”_ She wails, almost incapable of containing the hysterical laugh blubbering up on her and the will to pound her fist into the table.

Shiro stops trying to not smile and starts trying to hide his grimace with her cursing. She also thinks is kind of hilarious that a grown man can hate cursing so much, but since she's not a little girl anymore, she can drop as many f-bombs as she damn pleases.

“Where are they, by the way?" Pidge asks, looking around, as if she had somehow failed to see Lance and Keith in the room with them. "I have to see this train wreck!”

“So, that's the thing. They're not… reacting to this whole thing as they should.” Allura says.

“What do you mean?” Pidge asks.

“They're acting the same as always,” Shiro says.

“Shamelessly flirting through bickering and dude bro side hugs?”

“Huh. Yes?” Shiro says with a tick in his mouth, as if the very thought of all the unbearable flirting between Keith and Lance gives him the nerves.

Pidge hums to herself. Something sparks in her mind, just for a second, and then it's gone. She's used with her brain sidetracking conversations with random ideas, so she ignores it for the time being.

Allura continues.

“Veercourt Saenique said the dosage was one of the highest and that their alchemists are 97.991% percent certain that it should work on humans.”

Pidge hums again. She can appreciate the precision of that statistic, even if she knows it's not exactly a favorable odd for them.

No. Wait.

Did Allura just say _alchemists_? Was that an actual word in an actual conversation?

Before Pidge can ask her to elaborate on that, Allura goes on.

“Our main concern now is, since the tonic is not working as it should-”

“It could have other collateral effects.” Pidge sees exactly where this is going.

Suddenly the whole situation is not _that_ funny anymore.

“Yes.” Allura says, her entire demeanor grave.

“We need to run some tests," Pidge deduces.

Shiro, still trying to keep his solemn expression, says, “We think it's the best thing to do, yes.”

Pidge nods, her mind already preoccupied with the process they have ahead of them. 

* * *

“So, what do we need to do here?” Hunk asks.

He has one of the brain scanners in front of him, Pidge standing on the other side of it. She swipes at the holographic screen in front of her, the reflection on her glasses making her look menacing as always.

“We need to turn this one into a neuron reader so I can know what's going on inside Keith's and Lance's heads. A normal brain activity scanner might not give me the answers we're looking for.”

“And we're looking for…”

"Neurotransmitter levels, peaks and lows, _types_ of neurons in activity.” Pidge raises her eyes from her notes and levels him with a deadpan look. “You know, the fun stuff.”

Hunk shudders at that.

“Are you _sure_ you want to do that?”

“Do I want to know what kinds of hormonal horrors are going on on Lance's and Keith's brain?” She then sighs, her resignation so clear on that little sound. “A dream coming true.”

She rotates the screen to show Hunk what needs to be tinkered inside the machine to turn it into what they need. He passes his eyes at her notes and instructions, clear as always, and nods, reaching for his tool kit.

“Do you think there's going to be something?”

“The Nauhj said that, besides the obvious, the potion is harmless and should lose effect in two or three days. But they never encountered a species immune to it, so we just want to be safe. See if there's anything to contain while it wears off."

Hunk hums in acknowledgement.

“They _are_ acting the same as ever, you saw it yourself last night. So I'm hoping nothing strange will show up.” Pigde says but Hunk can see that she is a little worried about their friends, of course, just as he is.

“Of all the things we already saw, did you ever think we'd find a planet that makes _love potions?_ ” Hunk asks just to make conversation, while choosing between two screwdrivers.

Pidge hums. "Stranger things have happened to us." And Hunk can honestly say that yeah, the Universe is _weird_ and far stranger things than love potion planets have crossed their way.

“What's the point of it, anyway?” He is curious, though, why would they need such a… unique distinction.

“Allura said it's a ceremonial thing. I did not want to know any more than that.” Pidge makes a face and shudders, shaking her head, as if to ward away any images that might have wandered there.

“I still don't know _why_ someone would try to give _them_ a love potion. And by them, I mean the two idiots who can't realize they're totally already gone for each other,” Hunk says with his head shoved into the machine. He's going to have to reconfigure basically everything there, but it's fun and he loves this kind of stuff. 

Their need for brain scanners is pretty much constant, with the frequency they bang their heads flying around in space, so at this point he can call himself a specialist at medical machinery.

"I know who you meant." Pidge says and levels him with a look, one that means the answer is obvious to her, but she probably forgot is not obvious for everybody. “She technically _did_ give them the love potion. It just didn't work.”

Hunk shrugs, because there's no need to pretend to understand things he doesn't, with Pidge. Or with anyone, for that matter. “Still.”

She sighs and he knows it's directed at him.

“Hunk, if you too could do anything to make them stop with all the insufferable flirting, and _do something about it,_ wouldn't you?”

Okay, yes, she's got a point. As always.

Although it does make him wonder how strong Keith and Lance were coming at each other at that ball for some alien person they had never even met before feeling the need to intervene.

Maybe the whole team is just more immune to the obvious pining going on between them than Hunk realizes.

He says all of that to Pidge and the horrified face she makes is exactly what he expected. He chuckles.

“Too bad it didn't work, huh?” He jokes, raising his head to wiggle both his eyebrows at Pidge. He’s kidding, but also not, because despite wanting what's best for his friends and give them time to figure out things for themselves, he’s also running out of patience with _how_ _long_ is taking them to sort this out.

Instead of the eye roll he was expecting as an answer, some other expression crosses her face, pensive and far away. And _then_ the eye roll. 

“We should be so lucky,” she says, swiping at the tablet on her hand, the holographic screen in front of her shifting. “She's just a kid, anyway, bet she didn't actually plan it.”

“How young we're talking about?” he asks.

“Allura said close to my age when we first got here.” _Here,_ Hunk knows, meaning _space in general._ “So, like 15, 16 on Earth years?”

Hunk snorts really loudly at that.

“You're still 16,” he points out.

“Fuck off, Hunk, I'm 21," Pidge fires back immediately. "I can legally _drink_.”

Big deal, he thinks, since there's no actual alcohol around. And it's not like they haven't had to drink far weirder things than earthling tequila or whatever.

And of course Hunk knows she's not an teenager anymore, but still, it doesn't matter if she does look older now and is almost as tall as Keith, she's always going to be the little sister. 

Hunk laughs and goes back to the machine.

“Oh, well. You were pretty terrifying at 16.”

Pidge doesn't deny it, which says a lot, but she does ask in a flat tone, “Your point?”

He shrugs.

“I’m just saying, maybe it _wasn't_ a naive thing done by some kid who doesn't know any better.”

And _that_ look on Pidge’s face strikes Hunk’s pride a bit, even if it makes Pidge somewhat of an asshole. She wouldn't even deny that either. It's the _holy shit you're fucking smart too and sometimes I forget_ Look.

“Hunk. I need to send this girl a fruit basket. It may not have worked, but A+ for effort."

Hunk snickers and goes back to his tinkering. 

* * *

Lance is bored and tired, so his gaze keeps going back to Keith every minute, almost without Lance's control. 

That's not exactly new, he knows, since he already does that a lot. But something about Keith's agitation lures Lance's eyes into his direction more than often.

The only signs of Keith's state of mind are his own eyes, reflecting his uneasiness, and the mess he made of his hair. 

His stupid, shiny, long hair. Perfect hair, brushing his shoulders, bangs falling on his eyes, framing his beautiful face.

Lance can admit it now, at least to himself: he loves Keith's hair. In fact, he considers it the actual bane of his own existence. He wants to reach a hand and fix the rebel locks that have fallen out of place at least once every waking hour. Sometimes even in his _sleeping_ hours too.

Lance doesn't remember the first time he got that impulse, to reach out a hand, run his fingers through it. But he still remembers the absolute _madness_ that took over each cell of his blood when he saw Keith tying it up for the first time. The hair tie hanging on between Keith's teeth, his hands pulling back his thick hair, beautifully defined triceps bare for Lance to ogle. It was a type of self-control he did not know he had, to watch it unfold before him and not being able to do anything. It was torture. It was heaven. And Lance still has a hard time dealing with it.

(Sometimes he fears he'll get caught looking, that his feelings will be just as transparent to Keith as it appears to be to everyone else, but that never happens. Keith seems to be oblivious like that.)

Lance can see now, Keith becoming more and more annoyed each time Pidge or Hunk starts a new set of stupid tests they have no idea what is for. Nobody tells them anything, just continue to say it's necessary and urgent, and Shiro's adamant voice keeps them from rioting.

He wants to reach over and put a hand on Keith's shoulder, try to reassure him or maybe to calm him down a bit, but he's so on edge himself he doesn't know if he's going to be any help.

He's not good at this science mumble jumble, everyone knows that. He's the strategy guy, the sharpshooter. Keith is their best fighter, their star pilot. It's ridiculous of Pidge to think they're going to make sense of all the lines and symbols she's showing them on a screen. Everyone is on the medical bay with them and Lance has the impression that he and Keith are the only ones not aware of what’s going on.

“So this," Pidge says as she points at one specific red jarred line on the holographic screen, “is their level of oxytocin, which is absurdly high.”

When no one reacts, besides Hunk, who seems to vibrate where he stands next to her, she continues.

“Oxytocin is most known as the neurotransmitter responsible for making someone… feel good.”

Lance thinks he sees Shiro arching an eyebrow at that, and Coran has been sporting this "interested student" look - with a hand on his chin and nodding away -, but other than that, no one else reacts. Pidge goes on.

“So, to have such a high activity of it leads mostly to one conclusion: the subjects are under a strong outer influence of, uh" she hesitates, clears her throat, seems uncomfortable for the first time. "Hunk?"

He takes a moment, seeming to think about what he's going to say. "It's a type of hormone that the brain releases like this when, for example, a person is in love," he finally answers.

"Oh, how interesting!" Coran exclaims, and he looks like he's having fun.

"Well,” Pigde continues. “It does come as a surprise, though, that their brain is releasing this amount without having any effect on their behavior. Which makes me think, _maybe_ it's some sort of artificial type that imitates oxytocin, but doesn't act the same, at least not in their system. Although I do need to keep studying it, because as far as I see it, it's exactly the same.”

“I read upon this 'tonic’ and it says it's effective on Galra. Actually, it says it never encountered a race immune to it," Allura says.

"Yes." Pigde confirms. "My guess would be that the human DNA is the immune one."

“Wait, _wait,_ hold the cheese.” Lance puts his hands up, makes a T. “Can anybody please explain what's happening now?”

“I think,” Keith starts with that adorable little frown on his forehead, and Lance thanks whatever is out there for small miracles. If he’s still plugged into the stupid machine that reads his brain activity or whatever, he's sure it'd be pretty clear the main - _come on now, Lance, be honest with yourself: the only -_ reason his head is stuffed with freaking _love hormone_ , “that girl on Xor gave us something. Right?”

“Yes, Keith." Allura says with a gentle, careful tone that alarms Lance more than anything until now.

“The thing is,” Pidge continues to talk like nobody had interrupted her, and if Lance knows her - which he does - she probably hadn’t even notice them talking, lost on her train of thought, “there's something else in the mixture, and it's breaking my brain to understand it, because it seems to correlate to the oxytocin, since the levels are too similar to be coincidental, and the peak effect is almost always at the same time, or at least very close to each other.”

“What is it?” Hunk asks, being the only one really capable of keeping up with her line of thought when she's on a roll like that.

“I don't know. At least, I'm not sure yet. Its composition seems to have the complete opposite effect of the oxytocin.” She stops for a moment, unaware of the tension in the room around her. “It's like there's physical pain. You guys sure you're okay?” She looks up, addressing Keith and Lance directly for the first time since she began her little lecture, like she’s just now realized that it’s _them_ and the actual functioning of their brain they’ve been talking about. “Not feeling anything strange?”

They look at each other, synchronized as ever, and then shake their heads. No.

“Do you think it's more of the fake kind of neurotransmitters?” Shiro asks, his voice showing concern, and _dang it_ somebody better explain to Lance what this whole ordeal is about before he _snaps_.

“It’s a possibility, but it doesn't really add up. Why would a lo- uh, tonic like that include physical pain? There's corticotrophin, cortisol. These are all responsible for distress and anxiety. Like I said, the complete opposite of oxytocin, but they're not cancelling each other up."

"It's madness.” Hunk says a little awed.

"Madness?" Keith asks, voice alarmed.

"No, not _really_ madness, Keith." Pidge's answer is not light on sarcasm, but Shiro frowns at her and her tone changes. “Figure of speech,” she mumbles, chastised.

“Then what is it like?” Lance snaps at her, finally running out of patience, a tight ball of worry pressing up his diaphragm. If something’s wrong with Keith, he _needs_ to know. _Now._

Pidge takes a moment before answering, looks down on her screen again. Starts to say, “It's like a-”, but cuts herself off with a halt, eyes bulging out for a moment and everyone knows what that means. It's her _Eureka_ face, as Lance affectionately calls it. Not that he’s feeling much affection towards her right at the moment.

“What? What is it?” Hunk asks her, more curious and eager than anything else and Lance can't help but feel annoyed at him for that. Pidge tips her pad to show Hunk whatever he needs to see, tapping her index finger into a specific area. It takes two seconds for Hunk's eyes to bulge almost as much as Pidge's had. 

They both look at Lance, then at Keith, and while Pidge's eyes become unbearably sad for a bit of a second, Hunk's are already starting to water. 

Lance stare at them, extremely wary at their reaction, feeling suspended in that moment with something huge pairing upon them, waiting for what is about to be revealed. 

_Are they dying?_ Lance thinks desperately. _Is_ Keith _dying?_

 _Oh god, please no._ He feels cold dread spread through his veins straight for his heart, his fingers, his toes.

It must be also written on his face because Pidge immediately amends, her voice gentler than he's used from her. “Lance, calm down, it's not bad. Not per se.”

“What is it?” Keith's voice sounds strangled and he has one hand out, like he was going for Lance's arm but stopped himself midway.

She sighs. Hesitates one more second, seems to reach a decision.

“A simple way to put it? It's a broken heart cocktail of neurotransmitters."

Lance blinks. _A what now?_

“And it's most certain the reason you two are acting completely normal, even with the potion in your systems.”

Allura gasps really low, seeming to have caught what she meant. 

“What _kind_ of… potion did she give us, Pidge?” Keith asks, no, demands, and Lance understands his sharpness. He might not be as bright as the Nerd Twins playing neuroscientists, but he definitely noticed them avoiding to mention the "tonic" and what it actually is. He knows Keith must have noticed too.

Pidge turns her eyes on Allura, surprising Lance, and the princess is the one to sigh before finally answering their question.

“A love potion. According to the Nauhj, the strongest you can find on this side of the galaxy.”

Lance’s brain twists like a pretzel at that. 

_A what now?!_

“Guys, I'm so sorry," Pidge says quietly, her eyes sincere as they bounce between Lance and Keith. “I had no idea it was this, this-”

“Serious.” Hunk says, voice sad and eyes still shining with tears that hadn't fell but were still there, his thick eyebrows furrowed.

Keith, as it seems, figures what in the heavens is happening right now, and judging by how pale he gets, it’s not a good thing.

“I have to-,” he croaks out, already backing out of the room. “I gotta go.” And he bolts.

“Keith?” Lance calls out but it's too late. He's left there, confused and a little hurt, because aren't the two of them on this together? Why would Keith bail on him like that?

Lance can feel a headache setting at his temples and he hates that he's being this slow. But he's tired and frustrated with his friends for doing a bazillion tests on him and Keith all that while omitting a very important piece of information, so it is worth repeating: he has no idea what the fudge is going on here.

He recalls the last night on Xor.

The young Nauhj girl, Siliver - an energetic and funny little one that made Lance think about his sister when she was still an overeager teenager -, handed him and Keith a drink. She said she wanted to toast their friendship, their _future._ They drank it, they danced together. Lance flirted with Keith like crazy, like always, and, as always, it all went completely unnoticed by the other paladin. It's like Keith doesn't even acknowledge him in that way. But well, ce la Lance vie. 

After dancing and talking some more with their hosts, they went back to their rooms and Lance had a good night of sleep, feeling satisfied with their accomplished mission and happy he got to spend time with Keith like that.

In the morning, they came back to the castle with the good announcement of a new ally. They trained together yesterday and then today again, like they do almost every day. Then they hung out in common area and in Lance's room, like they always do, until Shiro came to pick them up, saying there was something they needed to do. That was when the tests began.

And he's supposed to what?, believe that the whole time they were under some sort of love spell?

They've been acting the same, so it must not be that strong, right? Or probably doesn't have any effect on them? Pidge said something about a fluke.

Keith has been acting the same around him. At the training simulator, after Lance hit an almost impossible shot over Keith’s shoulder, he gave Lance a bright proud look that made him feel all the cliché cases of butterflies in his chest and stomach. But even that wasn't new, he'd felt that a million times before. Keith had looked at him like that a million times before.

And Lance is not sure a love potion would even make any difference for him, since he's been stupidly in love with Keith for years by now. He's gotten pretty used to pretending everything is normal, pretty good at acting like he doesn't feel anything other than friendship. Even if it hurts like heck sometimes.

Pidge said there's some kind of _broken heart cocktail_ of neuro things in his brain. _Yeah, no sh-_

It's right then that he feels it hit him, just like a big tidal wave at the beach back home. The kind he always dared to face as a kid but was always too strong for him, swallowing him whole and overturning his gravity center a hundred times in a mere second. It used to take him some time to recover, dizzy and gasping for air, but right now it only takes him one second more to find his feet again. This is important. This is _Keith_.

Kicking himself mentally, Lance runs after him. 

* * *

Keith can barely hear Lance above the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest, so hard he can see the pulse at the edges of his vision, like it's trying to escape its boundaries and reach for the object of its desire. 

Which is Lance, his eyes wide and bouncing all over Keith's face, chest heaving for having chased Keith down the better half of the ship until his damn long legs got the better of the two of them, spinning Keith around with a grip on his arm.

Keith tries to concentrate, tries to breath, and fails at both. Lance's hands come up to hold him by his shoulders, his fingers gentle but firm, and he does shake Keith a little to get his attention.

“Keith!”

Keith blinks a couple of times. He has to focus. He can't keep acting like a lunatic, even if sobering up means they can talk about this whole mess. Even if it means Lance can finally reject him for good.

Because that's why he's here now, right? That's why he came after Keith? He knows now how Keith feels about him and has to make things clear. Let Keith know he doesn't feel _that_ way about him.

Lance will be kind, Keith's sure of it. 

It's not going to hurt any less.

“Yes?” Keith croaks out, eyes falling into Lance's right shoulder, trying to distance himself, trying to shield his feelings. It's a useless attempt right now, he knows, but there’s not much else he can do.

He feels a warm hand sliding up his neck, hesitant, feels a thumb brushing his jawline, and it would take a much stronger man than Keith not to tremble beneath the _almost_ caress. He's absolutely sure Lance can feel him shaking, but the only thing he does about it is touch Keith's jaw with the tips of his fingers, the smallest of pressure, just enough to Keith notice what he wants. 

Yet Keith still hesitates. Looking at Lance pretty eyes right now seems like the most difficult thing he ever had to do. And he knows he's being dramatic, okay, but he feels what he feels. Which also applies at the reason they ended up in this situation in the first place: _he feels what he feels._

“Keith,” Lance calls again, almost a whisper, and the sentiment in that sound makes Keith's chest tight in the worst way. Lance almost sounds… hurt. Keith can't do anything except look up at him, except do something to make so that Lance doesn't sound like that again.

“Why are you running from me?” Lance asks, voice so gentle and sad and confused it makes Keith ache inside. He really likes Lance's loudness and chattiness and lively energy, because _it's him._ So when Lance is like this, all quiet and solemn and, and… _sad._ It really shakes Keith's down to his bones.

And of course Lance must be sad. They are friends. Best friends, he'd say. Lance is a good person, he doesn't want to have to break Keith's heart. He's going to, but he doesn't like it.

Keith can spare him that, at least.

“You don't--” he chokes on the words, swallows, tries again. This is important, he needs to get it out. “You don't have to do this. We don't ever need to talk about this. We can just ignore it. Forever. It's okay.”

Lance looks surprised by that for a second, then his eyes flash with hurt again. There's something else mixed with that hurt, something Keith is more familiar with. Something closer to annoyance.

“Why the hell would we do that?”, and his voice is louder now, taps into that insolent _you're being absurdly obtuse right now_ tone that never fails at ruffling Keith's feathers a bit. Sometimes more than a bit.

“I just, I get it, okay? You don't need to say it!” And Keith can't mask the anger and hurt in his own tone.

That seems to take Lance even more by surprise. He looks at him for a few moments, one hand still holding his shoulder, the other kind of cupping Keith's face and Keith's stupid, _stupid_ heart is doing somersaults, beating so loud he's sure the whole ship can hear it. 

Lance's eyes have that light in them, one Keith knows well and have seen hundreds of times before. It's focused and calculating, so similar to how it gets when Lance's taking his aim before a perfect shot. Something else shifts in there, something like realization. It only lasts a second before it softens again, in that irritating way that makes everything inside Keith soft too.

 _Oh_ , Keith realizes.

Maybe Lance _didn't_ know why Keith was running away, but he sure does now. Just looking at Keith for a minute, reading him like a fucking open book, his emotions all over the place right now.

Lance's thumb shifts on his jaw, and Keith's legs turn into useless limp noodles. It should not amaze him how his body reacts to every little thing Lance does but he can't help it, it is impressive. Like every sense ending is somehow tied up to Lance's very existence.

He has no idea how he's still standing and he's not sure he's going to survive this night.

“Oh, Keith. You idiot." Lance murmurs with the softest voice, and Keith _knows_ that, okay? He knows he's an idiot, but even so, _rude._

He opens his mouth to say just that, but Lance thumbs his bottom lip, so light it's almost not there, shushes him gently, and the only sound that would get out of Keith's mouth is something he has to tamp down very fast or else embarrass himself even more.

“We _both_ drank the potion, Keith.” Lance says, a gentle smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Keith furrows his brows, turning the sentence in his head for a moment.

“So?” He snaps back, because he's confused and heartbroken and he just wants to get it over with at once, since Lance insists on having this conversation.

But Lance just smiles at him again, shakes his head again, huffs a little laugh out. “It was a very strong portion, right? That's what Allura said.”

Keith frowns again. _And?_

“Keith, for the love of God. I know for a fact you're not stupid.”

“Hey!” He tries to shove Lance away, but not really. He actually _is_ kind of stupid because he just wants to bask a little bit more in the warmth of Lance's hands on him. Even if it's not going to last. _Especially_ if it's not going to last.

Five years fighting side by side with Lance left him sometimes wondering if all those times they shared their thoughts on their Lions didn't merge their minds a little bit. Lance always knows the emotional state Keith is at critical moments, and Keith almost always knows what Lance's going to do before he does. That would be, excluding this moment where he has no idea what's going on in Lance’s mind and what he's going to do next. 

Proven by the way Lance's other hand, the one on Keith's shoulder, slides up his neck with more intent than the other before, cupping Keith's face for real this time. Keith did not see _that_ coming.

His heart does a little victory dance inside his chest because, as it was early established, it is a very dumb heart, and it seems to be unaware of how much trouble they really are in here.

Keith snaps his attention back at Lance's face and finds him beaming down at Keith. He feels left out of some joke that Lance thinks it's really amusing but doesn't intend to share with the rest of the class.

And that, that is what makes Keith think, _I have to get away._ Lance's is not distressed about this situation anymore, he's enjoying himself somehow. 

Suddenly, Keith feels the hurt again, and betrayal, and he _has_ to put some distance between them right now before he does something even dumber than his dumb heart. Like crying. 

Or worst, giving in to his impulse to kiss that beautiful smile and see if it tastes like sunshine and cherry lip balm, as Keith's suspects it does. His heart, of course, thinks that it's a great idea. Because _it is stupid._

His hands come up to hold Lance's wrists, to take his hands off of Keith's face, but as soon as he makes contact, as soon as he feels Lance's warm skin beneath his fingers, it's damn near impossible to push him away, or to let go. It's like a magnet and Keith should have known better.

So his only escape is if Lance is the one to let go of him. Otherwise they're going to be here forever, with Lance's hands on his face and his own hands around Lance's wrists, feeling his pulse thundering away almost in sync with Keith's wild one.

It says a lot about Keith's state of mind that that fact doesn't ring any bells for him. His stupid heart stutters a beat, like a warning, as if shouting out. Keith pays it no attention.

“Lance, please,” and he can barely recognize his own voice. _Please let me go,_ he wants to say. _Please say something. Please don't say anything._

All of that gets stuck in his throat by Lance taking a step forward, invading Keith's space, chest to chest, breathing the air right out of Keith's lungs, and Keith's is pretty sure that, if it weren't for Lance's hands on him, he'd be a pool of goo on the floor right now.

“Keith,” he says, and his tone is rough and breathy and _fuck god dammit Lance, you're killing me._

“Yes?” He forces himself to ask when Lance doesn't elaborate any further.

Lance chuckles again, a tiny sound more air than anything that Keith feels hitting his lips, warm and humid, and that's it, Keith is dying.

His stupid moron dumbass of a heart is fucking singing.

Keith's trying to make sense of Lance's behavior through the mist of want and the thrumming fire in his veins and so much heartache - _so much love_ \- for the boy in front of him, and he's failing spectacularly. All he wants is to bask in this moment for all eternity.

“Keith,” Lance says again, and this time it sounds like a calling, so Keith forces himself to focus again.

“Just keep up for a moment, okay?" Lance says with a low, raspy, perfect voice. "And then I'll kiss you as much as you want.”

Keith blinks. He wants to call Lance out again, he's being _so rude._ He _knows_ he's staring a lot at Lance's lips but they're _right there._ Looking so soft and plush and kissable, you can't blame him for staring every two seconds.

_Wait._

_Did Lance just say-_

“What- what the--” he sputters, trying to make sense of what he just heard.

Lance shushes him, softly.

And Keith wants to be mad, he really does. What is this, pity? Because if it is, Keith does _not_ want it, even if it’s the love of his life who’s offering. He wants to be angry and offended, but he literally doesn't have the energy anymore.

“ _Keith._ The potion was very, _very_ strong.”

Keith huffs, starting to lose his patience. Lance is like a fucking broken record. He _knows_ that. That's exactly what brought them here, right? He drank a stupid, very strong love potion and he should've been writing love poems about Lance's eyes and falling at his feet, but he's so fucking used to pretend he's not in love with Lance that he might as well have drank water.

Lance groans, clearly frustrated. Although only God knows why he should be the one frustrated here. It's not like _Keith's_ the one acting all erratic.

“You're lucky you're so pretty,” Lance laughs with mirth in his eyes, and _fuck_ if that doesn't throw Keith out for a complete fucking loop.

He has to give himself a literal shake of his head to clear it a bit. Not that it's very successful.

“Keith,” Lance says for what seems like the thousandth time tonight. It does not lose any effect on how much Keith's dumb heart loves to hear it, especially from this close. “I'm gonna say it again, so pay attention. Okay? Are you paying attention?” Lance inquires and Keith wants to answer: _always._ But that's not entirely true, is it? It's not Keith's fault that sometimes he can't even hear Lance over the desire to kiss the freckles on the bridge of his nose, or run his fingers through his soft looking hair, or tuck his face on the junction of Lance's neck and shoulder that looks like it was made for him. Sometimes, he gets so lost in the timbre of Lance's voice, he doesn't listen to the words anymore.

And it's, it's not like those are the only things he loves about Lance. He loves to hear what Lance has to say, and the sound of his laugh and how excited he gets when he's talking about the things that he loves, gesturing wildly with elegant hands and nimble fingers. It's just, it's hard, okay? Keith is in love and _Lance is too fucking pretty._

He forces himself to concentrate now because Lance looks very serious, eyes intense on Keith's.

He can see the moment Lance realizes he has his full attention, when Keith's eyes focus on his own, trying very hard to ignore how dark the blue gets on the low light of the room Lance caught up with Keith earlier, like a deep, endless ocean at night.

“I need you to think a little bit about these last couple days, okay?” And Keith nods a little when Lance seems to wait for a confirmation. “Did something strange happen? I mean, other than all the never-ending tests and the eventual revelation that we were sort of roofed by a teenager alien, of course.”

Keith does as he asks and tries to think back to all that happened on the last couple days, and no. Other than the whole love potion fiasco and the utterly boring set of tests Pidge and Hunk made them suffer through, everything was the same.

Lance seems to notice when he gets to this conclusion, and by the pleased grin that takes over his mouth, he likes it.

“Exactly,” he says, as if confirming something Keith said out loud.

When Keith just furrows his brow at him, he lets out a little sigh. Not frustrated anymore, just sort of conformed, and also a little fond.

“Nothing strange happened. We had, according to the Nauhj, the strongest love potion this side of the universe running through our brain and nothing happened. You didn't act any different towards me…”

Lance looks down at the floor, like he's suddenly bashful, and bites his plump lower lip to contain a smile. And it is so damn cute Keith is sure the warmth on his cheeks indicate he's getting bright red, and if the light in the room is not enough for Lance to see it, Keith's sure he can feel it warm under his palms. 

Lance's eyes come back to Keith's face and he's still biting his lip, but the smile is winning over.

“And I didn't act any different towards _you._ ”

And the smile, _ugh so fucking beautiful,_ takes over his entire perfect face as he looks at Keith.

It takes two whole seconds for Lance's words to settle down. Then every sensorial nerve on his skin lights up with the more delicious electric warmness. His fingertips tingle. His knees tremble. And his stupid, moron, dumbass, _genius of a heart_ is doing a mix of salsa and samba to a song that sounds too much like _I fucking told you so._ Like it _knew._

“Oh,” he exhales.

“Yeah. _Oh._ ” Lance's smile is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, and Keith has to fight the irrational burn in the back of his eyes that indicates he's one second away from crying.

He's not very effective. Lance was under the effect of the love potion the entire time too. Lance kept going as if nothing was different, kept acting around Keith, _with Keith,_ as if everything was the same.

Just like Keith did.

The tests, the things Pidge was saying, that was about the both of them.

 _“Oh,”_ he says again, even more breathless as the full force of this revelation hits him in the face, and he's sure he's squeezing Lance's wrists too hard, but Lance doesn't seem to care. Just keeps beaming at Keith like Keith is something precious and amazing and like… 

_Like he loves me._

“Fucking hell,” he swears lowly, because talk about one wild trip on the biggest emotional rollercoaster to ever exist.

Lance chuckles under his breath and his thumb is drawing lines of affection on Keith's cheek and under his eyes that are definitely wetter than they should be, but who fucking cares when Lance is in front of him looking at him like this, _when Lance loves him,_ and he's using the fingers of his other hand to brush Keith's bangs out of his eyes. Keith is sure he _actually_ died a few vargas ago. 

“You know," Lance says conversational. "I think we’re _both_ kind of idiots. We kept going all this time, pretending like there was nothing here beyond guys being dudes, when the reality is that we love each other so much, a friggin love potion didn't take effect on us.”

Lance’s expression, so full of wonder, has Keith's head spinning a little and he's not sure he could walk if he tried, but he's damn sure of one thing.

Lance made him a promise. And Keith's so ready to collect it.

“Lance?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

And, _wow._ That's. Okay. That's _definitely_ a thing for Keith.

“For fuck’s sake, _kiss me._ ” He manages to say.

And Lance _does._ Warm and sweet and smiling so hard it takes a couple of seconds to even feel like a kiss at all, huffs of laughter in between the touches of lips.

It's perfect.

And Keith's stupid, genius, _smug_ of a heart fucking soars. 

* * *

They walk the corridors hand in hand aimless, stopping when passing a room or hall with a view to the outer space.

Keith has a lightness on his step Lance’s not sure he’s ever seen before and he really, really likes that. 

He stops walking and Keith takes two more steps before noticing, looking at Lance with a question in his eyes. Lance brings Keith’s hand up, to kiss the back of it, then the knuckles and the wrist. Enjoys the blush that takes over Keith's cheeks. He leans over and kisses them too, just because he can, just because he wants to feel the warmth under his lips. Keith makes a gorgeous tiny sound that Lance wants to hear for the rest of his life.

"One day," he says practically into Keith's skin, and then pulls back to look Keith in the eyes, "we're going to talk about how long it took for you to notice my feelings. Even before today. I flirt with you all the time, you know."

"You do not," Keith protests.

"Do too." Lance insists, fond beyond himself. "Everyone else can confirm. And I wasn't subtle about it either. It was never hard to figure it out I'm in love with you."

Keith goes very still and Lance thinks he maybe finally said something wrong, but Keith's eyes shine so pretty he realizes that can't be it. And then he understands.

He hasn't said it, not with all the words. It should scare him how naturally they fell from his lips, but it doesn't. It couldn't, not with Keith. He trusts Keith with his life, so to trust him with his heart is not such a big leap. 

He leans in, takes Keith's lips in a soft, lingering kiss, before saying, "I love you".

It's the most wonderful thing how Keith actually melts under his kiss, under his words, and there's lots of things in Lance's life he can be proud of - being chosen to pilot Blue, having the chance to fight and make a better Universe, helping people -, but _this,_ right here, the ability to make Keith feel like this, it might be the one that makes him proudest.

He can barely wait to see what else he can do to make Keith this pliant - to see an unstoppable force such as Keith as malleable as dough under his finger is a wonder far greater than to see galaxies, and Lance has seen them. But he wants to take his time. Savor it. Savor them, together.

Keith surges forward and kisses Lance again, hard. Instantly deep. Throws his arms around Lance's neck and pulls him in, holds him tight, buries a hand into the short hair at his nape. Makes taking their time suddenly a hard thing to try and achieve. Lance's arms go around his waist, pressing Keith into himself, almost taking him off his feet to compensate for their slight height difference.

It's amazing and warm and everything Lance's has ever wanted, right there, inside the circle of his arms. 

"I love you too," Keith whispers when they break apart. And Lance _knew_ that already, but God if that isn't the best thing he's heard. Like, in forever.

"Hmm," he murmurs. "Took me like, a minute to figure it out. You, on the other hand…" He teases and Keith pretends to shove him away. But not really.

"I didn't think-," Keith starts and stops himself. Tries again. "I never thought…" He trails off and Lance has to kiss him again. This time it stays chaste, but no less reassuring.

"I thought I was extremely obvious."

Keith shakes his head. "Not to me. And I thought I was the obvious one.”

Lance pretends to think about it, bringing a finger to his chin. “Maybe in retrospect,” he says in a mockery of seriousness that makes Keith rolls his eyes before laughing under his breath.

“Such a dork,” Keith murmurs and goes ahead and tries to _bite_ Lance’s finger on his chin, proving exactly who’s the dork one in this relationship.

 _Oh, dang._ Lance’s head just really went there. Okay, okay. Cool. It’s alright. No need to freak out. This _is_ obvious what they have, right? A relationship. Even if they still need to talk _talk_ about it, they just confessed their love for each other. Lance doesn’t have to worry. Right?

Right? 

“Lance?” Keith takes notice of Lance’s sudden shift in mood, has that little frown between his eyes, and Lance hates that he made him worry. He kisses that spot then takes a step back, takes Keith’s hand again before the frown begins to deepen.

“Come on,” he pulls Keith by the hand, but Keith hesitates. “We’re making out in the middle of the corridor, babe. I think we should move this somewhere more private.” He wiggles his eyebrows at Keith just to be silly, because he knows will make Keith smile, and that’s exactly what happens. 

As soon as they get to Lance’s room and the door closes behind them, Keith turns to him.

“So? What was it?” He asks Lance.

“Hm?”

“What had you freaking out, out there?” He insists.

“Huh… What? I wasn’t--” Lance begins to say but Keith gives him a look and he stops.

“Lance.”

"I wasn't freaking out." He mumbles, and Keith just arches a brow and waits.

He takes a deep breath.

“It’s nothing. I’m just used to being stupid.” He finally says.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keith’s voice sounds annoyed, since it's obvious Lance is trying to deflect the question.

Lance brings a shoulder up his ear, feeling suddenly self-conscious about being so insecure.

“I just… I thought the word relationship in my head. About us. And, uhm…” He trails off.

“You don’t, want that?” Keith asks and Lance can see how he tries really hard to keep a straight face and voice even.

“No! No, that’s not it!" He hurries to amend. "I really really want it. I just kept thinking if, you know, it’s what we have. If it’s what you want too.” 

Keith’s expression lightens up and he comes closer, getting into Lance’s space until he has his face tucked into the junction between Lance’s shoulder and neck. He fits like a puzzle. Lance puts his arms around his shoulder, runs a hand through his soft hair like he always wanted to. Lets himself lush in the feeling of it, relieved because Keith's willing closeness is answer enough. 

“Hmmm,” Keith sighs, putting his own arms around Lance's waist, sinking into him like he’s finally comfortable after a long day using too tight shoes. “I really really want that too.”

“Good.” Lance murmur into his hair, kisses his temple and tries to deal with the fact that this is real. Keith is really here, with him. _With_ him.

“I don’t know about you, but a nap sounds like the best right now, huh?" Lance says because it's been an exhausting and marvelous day and also, he’s been wanting to cuddle with Keith for so long, now seems like the perfect opportunity to start. "Dibs on being the little spoon!"

Keith snorts and kisses a spot under Lance’s jaws that has him shivering all over, which brings a very satisfied smile to Keith’s lips. _Oh, no._ Lance is in very much trouble with this boy. And he can't deny that he loves it.

“Sounds perfect,” he says to Lance with eyes shining and cheeks flushed, and Lance knows. He just _knows._ This is where he belongs.

“Yeah, it does,” he says, and leads Keith to his bed.

* * *

The next day, they enter the dining room holding hands when everybody is already there having breakfast.

Pidge takes one look at them and says, “Allura, I want a list of the best, most expensive types of fruit they have on Xor.” And Hunk just laughs.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> every kudos and comment will be treasure with my life  
> 
> 
> title and chapter titles from Apenas Mais Uma de Amor, by Lulu Santos


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